Free with Museum Admission
Recommended for all ages

What was the grandfather of movies?  Join filmmaker and collector Joel Schlemowitz for Capturing the Magic Weekend to discover how lantern slides entertained turn-of-the-century New Yorkers young and old. Examine antique projection equipment and painted glass slides; see how Victorian lanternists could conjure up images of spirits, distant lands, visual jokes, and illustrations to stories; and be amazed by mechanical techniques like  dissolving views, double-paned moving “slip slides,” and hand-cranked, gear-work moving lantern slides.

This summer, New York’s magical past comes to life every weekend from June 23 – August 26! Meet magicians, escape artists, fortune-tellers, and more marvelous illusionists from the past—all brought to life by Living Historians from the present. Check out our Family Calendar every week to discover each program’s special theme as it’s announced!

Image Courtesy of Dragoon Photography